Reflecting on 15 Years of Impact

In 2008, my friend Ed Cardoza founded Still Harbor to spiritually support people on the frontlines of movements for justice.

Showing up whole and grounded in the face of systems of oppression, violence, and suffering can take a heavy toll. He noticed that spiritual care within such spaces was lacking at best, and at worst, it was dismissed as having any collective value to “secular” groups. 

In envisioning Still Harbor, Ed committed to defining spirituality broadly, to centering spiritual care, and to remaining unaffiliated with any one religious tradition.

When I joined Ed at the end of 2010, I was burnt out, overextended, and spiritually under-resourced. I’d lost faith and connection to my purpose, myself, and the sources of life and compassion that had led me to my work in the first place. 

Since then, the journey I have been on with Still Harbor—and with so many of you over the years—has affirmed in me that love, compassion, and justice are spiritual fields of energy that are within and around us all. They need to be known and cultivated through intentional care, practice, and community. 

To keep walking the path towards liberation, our spirits and communities need deep care. To me, this is why Still Harbor exists. 
 
For 15 years, Still Harbor has trained and supported people committed to advancing justice through spiritual leadership, spiritual caregiving, and spiritual formation. During this time, we have coached social impact leaders and teams, led nonprofit chaplaincy programs, and partnered with dozens of organizations to offer spiritual facilitation and development services.

Perhaps most importantly, we have graduated over 160 students from our Spiritual Direction Practicum and Group Facilitation programs. These uniquely interspiritual and queer-led programs equip leaders to offer transformative spiritual care within their own communities, movements, organizations.
 
Today, Still Harbor alumni are serving as interfaith spiritual directors, humanist chaplains, community organizers, progressive ministers, and in other vital roles in their communities. 

I’m proud of the impact we have made together over the years, but I also know that this work continues to be critically needed.

As cultures and institutions are dismantled and reimagined in our social movement spaces, spirituality is essential to cultivating new imaginations and futures. Spiritual grounding does more than just sustain us, though that is an invaluable side effect. It also offers an embodied path, practice, and destination for our collective liberation.
 
Will you celebrate Still Harbor’s 15th anniversary and continue this transformative work by making a gift today? 

In honor of our anniversary, please consider making a one time gift of $150 or becoming a recurring supporter of $15/month to sustain this work all year long.

Thank you for being part of Still Harbor’s journey over the years and for believing in the transformative power of spiritual care.